Vintage Restaurant at The Inn at Willow Grove — Restaurant in Virginia

NB - the written part of this review was posted on 8/25/18, in response to the management response.

I dined at the Vintage Restaurant on June 15, 2018; reservations were under my wife's name. I have eaten at Willow Grove several times, most often for their generally impressive Sunday Brunch, and while under both the current and prior ownership; this review pertains only to the Vintage Restaurant under the current management. Since the management responded to the review, I should explain the 2 stars.

The issue was with the menu and dish as prepared - I should perhaps take partial blame for taking a gamble on ordering something I wasn't sure I would like. I had their "peppermint rack of lamb"; I absolutely love lamb, particularly rack of lamb (which I often prepare at home). I'm not very keen on peppermint candy, but mint and lamb are a traditional and generally good flavor combination. This is a very expensive, high-end restaurant, so I had very high expectations, but given their pretensions (as demonstrated by the pricing - this was a $37 entree) those seemed appropriate. What I got was a haute-cuisine parody: two miniscule chops (not even a half rack) CAKED in crushed peppermint candy atop an entire plateful of some kind of green bean dish (cheap vegetable plate-filler). I should offer some perhaps backhanded praise for the chef: it's often difficult to really infuse a whole cut of meat with a seasoning flavor, particularly when it's not a long slow-cook preparation (the medium rare was medium-rare-rare), but they were successful in utterly inundating (to the point of completely obliterating the lamb flavor) the chops with the flavor of Brach's Peppermint Candies - you know the red-and-white things. There was as much candy plaque on the plate as there was lamb. It's ala Annie Hall, "The food is terrible and such small portions". There was nothing particularly creative or skillful in the preparation of that dish.

The service was, at it has always been under the current ownership, extremely good - we were well-attended to, and management made an effort to address my dissatisfaction by comping me the dish. I declined this - they did deliver what the menu description read and what I ordered - reviewing the actual charge to my card, it appears they may have still removed it. We tipped our wait staff an appropriate 20%. The only reason I didn't put fewer stars is because the service was extremely good - and they were responsive to the note I left for the chef about the lamb dish.

I waited several weeks to post this, and hemmed and hawed a good bit, because I've had some very nice meals there, even if the price has always been a tad on the high side for what you get, and the service really has always been impeccable. But the food and service really should be impeccable all the time when you charge these kinds of prices, and I felt badly burned by the experiment with the lamb. I would stick to the pub food menu, or their tapas menu in the future, although my recollection is that you may only order from that menu if seated in the bar or pub area.

In the end, I posted this because I think it's fair warning to those who aren't comfortable with conspicuous consumption pricing, or risking trying to fill up on an expensive plate of green beans. Your better bet is to roll the dice at Forked on Main (the same ownership), where service and food are hit-and-miss, but at half the price, and just...

Though the experience left much to be desired, I do not personally believe in leaving a negative reviews. We all need opportunities to correct, and do better. With that being said I do want to share an honest experience, and hopefully it will be considered, as it is a beautiful setting and could really be a gem.

We made reservations at the vintage at 6:15, and prepaid 100.00 to reserve, when we arrived the restaurant was mostly empty with a lot of available seating in the main dinning areas. We were taken to what appeared to be overflow seating for the bar area, with high chairs, and was about 10 degrees colder than the main areas.

The server was pleasant, and brought us menus.

Drinks: Mock-tails, tried 4 different ones on the menu, and sadly to say lacked creativity, and flavor. These drinks just did not taste fresh, or have creative flavors. They sounded nice on the menu, but truly lacked the pear seltzer literally tasted like seltzer without pear after the ice had melted.

Bread: The bread was very good and fresh.

Appetizer and soup: Cheese plate was good, the variety of cheese and picketed selections were nice. The soup was very bland with the exception of the mushrooms and what appeared to be be a type of gingerbread inside.

Main course: Filet great sear and plate presentation, ordered medium, came well done, and the plate must have been sitting as the steak was cold. The Half chicken appeared to be deep fried and was saturated in oil, apart from the plate condiments there was a lack of any flavor outside of oil.

Deserts, tea and cappuccino. The cappuccino was smooth, but Luke warm without much body. The chai tea was very nice. The deserts appeared to be left in the fridge overnight, the white chocolate mouse cake was dry and cold, the pear desert was without flavor and the pears tasted old, they were covered in syrup, but apart from sugar there was no other pronounced notes.

The whole service took over 2 hours, there was much delay between dishes, and when we received the bill they did not credit the 100.00 dollar prepaid reservation charge. Which we paid, and hopefully this will be refunded back, but every other resultant that takes prepaid reservations reflects this on the dinning bill as a credit.

We really loved the atmosphere in the main areas, warm and intimate, and we would be willing to give the restaurant another chance, but there is a much needed overhaul on the food execution, speed of service, considering this is not a tasting menu, and overall flavor and freshness of all the dishes. Also making sure the environment is cohesive throughout the restaurant especially for those that made...

TL;DR - Don't eat here if you have Celiacs. Despite their claim that they'll work with your dietary requirements my brunch burger was just a patty surrounded by unexciting salad. This "gluten free by subtraction" is something that I expect of run-of-the-mill restaurants, which is not how this restaurant is priced.

I want to love this restaurant more. The location and the building are beautiful and my wife loved the food. I just wish they were more honest---or acted on the promise---of dealing with food allergies. Going here was akin to a vegetarian finding out their meat sauce was cooked with succulent lamb.

The restaurant is well-appointed with good atmosphere, decor, and excellent wait staff. The food---what I could have---was good and well-prepared. This is not why I rated them below average.

We went there for a Sunday brunch---myself, my wife, and our son (who didn't want to be there, of course). Service was good, though we did end up waiting for over an hour for the food.

My wife had the avocado toast with eggs and noted that it was delicious and filling. My son and I went with the burger because this is often a safe choice. The meal that came out for my son looked fantastic---a good quantity of fries and a burger that an anaconda would have trouble eating because it was so large. I salivated looking at it. Then I saw what I was to have for the same price: a burger patty with melted cheese surrounded by what would normally come on a bun and a terribly disappointing side salad that did little more than deserve the label of "petite salad". It was very, very petite.

The burger was, however, quite well made. It was just such a shame that everything else for a Celiac sufferer was so very, very disappointing.

If you don't have any dietary restrictions I would recommend this restaurant if you don't mind the pricier offerings. Service is good, if slow, and the food seems to be tasty, well made, and well presented.

If you do have dietary requirements other than vegetarianism? I would be leery of going to this restaurant unless you eat beforehand and stick to their...